Feel the Rush: A Hard Feelings Novel (InterMix) (19 page)

“Oh!” everyone said in unison as Meagan jumped and landed a 360 turn.

“I have a boner. Sorry, man. I have a no-shit boner right now watching her tear up that fucking wake.” Sanders bounced from foot to foot, shaking around as if he was adjusting himself.

“Can’t say I blame you. It’s hot.”

Then she had to go and flip. A front flip over the wake, landing on the other side like she could do it in her sleep.

“I fucking love her,” Sanders said, taking a drink of his afternoon beer.

Murano lifted his hand in the air. “I second that.”

“I third that,” Hadly said.

“Hell, me too,” Tessa chimed in, then they all erupted with laughter.

“Finn, you’re missing one hell of a show!” Murano shouted.

“So I can hear!”

A sweet, sexy woman who could lie soft in his arms, make him lose his mind in bed, and throw out tricks on the water like a pro—yep, he had his hands on a good one.

Meagan smiled, and it was wicked. It was laced with confidence that ran along every part of her expression. She threw her hands in the air, releasing the handle, letting the rope fall into the water.

“She’s down!” Reed hollered up to Finn.

They circled around and she climbed up the latter on the back of the boat and grabbed Reed’s outstretched hand.

“So, you’ve been boating before?” he asked as he pulled her into the boat.

“Eh”—she shrugged—“a time or two.”

Sanders pulled a beer from the cooler in the floorboard and handed it to Meagan. “A time or two my ass.”

She took the beer and tossed her sopping life jacket against Sanders’ chest. “Thanks, Hulk. Now let’s see you get your ass out there.”

The water dripped down Meagan’s body and goose bumps pricked across the tops of her tits when the boat took off. Her nipples perked through the thin yellow fabric of her bikini and as badly as he wanted to pull that scrap of fabric aside and run his tongue across her soft, pink nipple, he wanted to cover her up even more.

He wrapped a towel around her and sat down beside her, her legs taking up the space of his lap again.

“That was pretty damn impressive, sugar.”

She winked. “Why thank you. My parents have a couple boats. I grew up on the water. No matter where we were stationed, we went to the closest lake every chance we had.”

“A couple boats?”

“My dad kind of has a thing for toys. Vintage cars, boats, motorcycles. He likes to buy them, fix ’em up, then flip ’em. More often than my mom would probably like, he keeps a few too.”

“Sounds like your dad and I would get along just fine.”

The corners of her mouth lifted a little. “I think you’re probably right. Although he’s not that adventurous anymore. He is in his seventies, you know.”

“Aw, you’re never too old to get on the back of a bike or drive a boat down an open lake.”

She laughed.

“What?”

“That is exactly something he would say. Yeah, you two would get along just fine.”

***

The party cove was packed. There were two boats tied up on either side of Finn’s boat, and each had a row of boats tied up to them as well. The alcohol that Meagan had consumed throughout the day was settling in her stomach, making her nice and fuzzy around the edges, just the way she liked it when she was out on the water. A good lake buzz was the best.

The summer heat was torture, and the water was barely any relief.

“Found one!” she hollered as she straddled her floaty between her thighs. She was a little off balance and she swayed backward for a moment as she tried to scoot forward.

Reed kicked his legs beneath the water, wading his way toward her. “You gonna share?”

“If you ask nicely.”

“Or how about I just take it?” he said, pulling her legs from the grip on the floaty and pulling her onto his lap. He swayed back and forth for a moment as he tried to steady his own floaty between his legs now that he was balancing her on top of him as well. They both laughed.

“Damn, that feels good.”

She shifted her weight on his lap and locked her legs behind his waist. “Well, you better enjoy it because these cold spots don’t last for long.”

His eyes glassed over in that way that always seemed to trigger her inner pervert, and a not-so-innocent tickle moved between her legs.

“I wasn’t referring to the cold spot.”

She leaned in close to him and pressed her mouth against his ear. “I assumed as much.”

She felt Reed’s cock twitch against her and the look that was covering his face when she pulled her lips away from his ear was worth the little torture she was experiencing from his now hard cock, teasing her as she settled above it. She grinned.

“You’re not right, you know that?” he said, reaching his hand down in between them to readjust.

Her lips puckered into a pout and Reed leaned in and latched onto it in between his teeth. Not the reaction she was going for, but she would most definitely take it.

He pulled her lip into his mouth and sucked hard. Her mouth molded around his when he released her now swollen lip before she leaned back and tilted her beer to the sky, letting the remainder of its contents trickle down her throat.

“I’m gonna go grab another beer, do you want one?”

Reed emptied his beer into his mouth then submerged it into the water, the can filling up before sinking below the surface. “Yep.”

Meagan released the hold she had around his waist, pushed herself back, and swam toward the boat.

After hurling herself up the ladder and clumsily flopping back into the boat, she decided that floating on one of the flat tubes would be a good change from floating on that tiny little foam board between her legs. Definitely a good change as her balance was in serious jeopardy this many beers in. Yep, flat tube sounded like a much better idea.

“Anyone else need a beer?” she shouted over the blaring music coming from Finn’s boat.

The mass of people bobbing around in the water made her smile. Everyone was pink and wet, and the majority were drunk. She needed a day like this, she just wished Eva would had been able to come along. She would have loved it.

Hadly and Luke wanted a beer, as well as a few others she didn’t know. She tossed them all beers, splashing them in the face with lake water as the cans landed short in front of them.

Luke snatched his beer before it floated away from him. “You throw like a girl!”

“Do you want to go wakeboarding?” she hollered back, a cocky smile set firmly in place as she hoisted her hands on her hips, balancing, although slightly unsteady, on the back ledge of the boat.

Luke shook his head and laughed. “Well played, Meg. Well played.”

The use of her nickname from him made her grin. She could get used to that big guy.

Meagan grabbed onto the rope that was tied from the back of Finn’s boat and started pulling the giant black tube toward her. When it was close enough, she tossed two beers onto it and then jumped on, landing not so gracefully on her knees.

“Reed, I’ve got your beer,” she yelled as she turned over and flopped onto her back. The sun was absorbing the tiny drops of water that still clung to her skin.

“Hang onto it for me, I’m gonna go swing off that cliff over there.” He nodded his head toward the cliff behind him that had a rope that looked like a scrap of yarn dangling from a branch that could quite possibly be a twig.

“Are you crazy?”

“Ah, sugar. I thought we already determined that I was!” As he started to swim toward the cliff, he flashed her a crooked grin paired with a wink that, given any other circumstances, she would have melted—well, she still did a little—but the fearless, cocky, more-than-tipsy smirk mostly made her nervous. Reed didn’t know the definition of dangerous. If she was to look up the word under the dictionary via Reed, it would say: a pleasurable sensation of fright. Oh wait, that’s the definition of thrill. Reed apparently couldn’t differentiate between the two.

Meagan swung her legs underneath her and sat Indian-style on the tube and watched as he and Finn pulled themselves up the shore, swaying back and forth as they tried to keep their footing over the slippery rocks beneath them. They wound their way up the overgrown path that led to the top of the cliff and although Meagan was a good ways away, she could still pick out his deep laugh. It was like listening to the joy of a kid. It was sweet, and as much as she wanted to suppress the damn feeling, she thought it was incredibly sexy too. She hated to admit that there was a secret part of her that loved how fearless he was and how playful he was.

“Oh my god, I can’t watch this,” Tess said swimming up next to Meagan. It was nice to know that she wasn’t the only one having a slight panic attack as she watched the guys climb higher. All it would take was one little slip and they would tumble down the jagged rocks. . . .

She turned her head toward Tess, who Meagan was admittedly jealous of. The woman was gorgeous. She was a doll too. “I know, I think we snagged ourselves some idiots.”

“Oh, there’s no thinkin’ about it. They are downright stupid for doing that.” She laughed, but it was forced and nervous.

The guys got to the top and Reed maneuvered his body between the rocks to grab onto the rope and pull it up to a more flat spot, if there was even one. He gave it a couple of tugs, obviously attempting to check the safety of the rope, but given the look of it, it wouldn’t hold a toddler.

A few of the stragglers who were bobbing around in the water made their way toward Meagan, trying to get a better look at the dumbasses who were about to swing off the cliff over a bunch of rocks and hopefully land in deep enough waters that they didn’t crack open their heads or break their legs. Did she mention they were idiots?

Some guy swam to her tube and latched onto the side. Meagan had to hold her breath to keep from laughing. He looked like a lobster. He was so sunburned that it actually hurt her to look at him. If she could see past the angry skin, he was extremely attractive with a buzzed head—which was also the same red color as his face and shoulders—that showed the remnants of blond hair, and he had a prominent chin that jutted forward from his face with a small vertical intention right in the center. If she pulled him up out of the water, she was almost positive she would see a six-pack nestled on his torso. He had those broad shoulders and a nice thick neck that gave the I-spend-all-my-free-time-at-the-gym look. She didn’t quite know what was going on with all the good-looking guys here in Georgia, but she wasn’t going to question it, her eyes were grateful. “Hey, I’m Adam,” he slurred, and she smiled. He was tanked.

“Hi, Adam.”

She turned her attention back to Reed. She met his eyes and he smiled. It was one of those show-off grins. She rolled her eyes, although she knew he couldn’t see, and shook her head. He held the rope with both hands, one slightly higher than the other, then he leaned back into a squat.

Meagan held her breath. She wanted to close her eyes but was unable to peel them away from him. After he got the momentum in his knees, he jumped. It was in slow motion, or at least that’s how Meagan saw it. His feet left the cliff, and the muscles of his arms flexed as he held onto the rope. It swung out. “Let go,” Meagan whispered to herself. All she could picture was him not letting go in time and slamming back against the cliff, or worse, letting go too soon or too late and falling on the rocks below. If he made it safely into the water, she was going to kill him when she got her hands on him for making her witness this.

He let go.

His body made a beeline to the water below and the show-off did a summersault right before he hit the lake. Meagan let out the breath she was holding and inhaled a much-needed breath of fresh air, but it was thick and hot and it did nothing to quench her need for oxygen.

She took another breath and waited for him to pop up out of the water. And then she started to get antsy again.

“Where the hell is he?” She rose up onto her knees in attempt to get a better look but all it did was make her unbalanced.

“Eh, Porter will be fine. That crazy son of a bitch has jumped off that cliff more times than I could count.” Okay, so obviously Lobster Boy knew Reed.

“I don’t care if he’s done it a million times, it only takes one time for something bad to happen.” She narrowed her eyes at Adam but all he did was smile and point. She followed the direction of his hand and saw a grinning Reed swimming their way—and she relaxed. She plopped back down on her back and sprawled out on the tube, reaching her hand down in the water to scoop some over her chest and stomach in attempts to cool her off.

“Scoot on over, I’ll cool ya off,” Adam slurred.

Meagan laughed once. “Thanks but no thanks. Besides nothing will cool anyone in this heat.”

He placed his hands on the top of the flat tube and lifted his upper body onto it, his hips and legs dangling over the side. “Eh, you’d be surprised what a little wet body could do next to ya.” Okay, so he was harmless, Meagan got that. He was just a piss-poor flirt, and he obviously hadn’t picked up on the little fact that she was there with Reed.

She had opened her mouth to tell him, when he was jerked from the tube, his body submerging under the water.

***

Meagan sat up quickly, but her urgency faltered once she saw Reed looking at her. Her eyes shrunk from their what-the-hell look, and she smiled. He was starting to become a pussy over that fucking smile, but he didn’t particularly give a shit. He winked.

“What the fuck was that for, Porter?” Adam whined when he bobbed to the surface like a fishing lure, choking on water as he reined in his laughter.

“For trying to get your prick ass close to my girl.”

His laughs tapered off. “This beautiful blonde is with your sorry ass?”

“Yes.”

Reed knew Adam was drunk, he also knew that Adam was about as good of a guy as they came. And although he knew that Meagan would brush him off, and it had been nothing but innocent flirting from a drunk buddy, his body told him different. The moment he saw Adam lay on that thick smile at Meagan and try to climb up on the tube to lay next to her, he got tense. His fucking jealousy radar was blaring in his ears and he felt a territorial rush sweep through his veins.